Immediate Family

About Yehezkel Streichman

Yehezkel Streichman (Hebrew: יחזקאל שטרייכמן‎, 1906 – January 12, 1993) was an Israeli painter. He is considered a pioneer of Israeli modernist painting. Among the awards that he won were the Dizengoff Prize and the Israel Prize.

Early life

Streichman was born in Kovno, Lithuania. He studied at the local gymnasium, was a member of Hashomer Hatza'ir, and emigrated to Palestine in 1924.

Painting career

Streichman studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design with Arie Aroch in 1924–27. He then completed his studies in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts (1927) and in Florence at the Academy of Art (1928–31). He taught painting throughout his life; in elementary and high schools in 1936, at Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov in 1941, and at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv in 1944 and from 1954–79. Among those who studied with him were Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan and Israeli abstract artist Lea Nikel.

He and Avigdor Stematsky formed the Studia Art School in 1944, because they thought Israeli art schools were too conservative.

His painting style involved using many deep layers of paint. He was an acclaimed painter in what was known as the modernist "New Horizons" (Ofakim Hadashim) group in 1950s Tel Aviv, which he founded in 1948 along with Joseph Zaritsky and Stematsky. It painted in a French "lyrical abstraction" style. He was President of the Israeli Artists and Painters Union.

In 1964, he and Yechiel Shemi and other artists formed a group of artists called Tatzpit (Vantage Point).

He won the Dizengoff Prize multiple times (1941, 1944, 1954, 1969), the Ramat Gan Prize (1956), the Moadon Milo Prize (1968), the Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, awarded by the Israel Museum (1974), the Histadrut Prize (1986), the Israel Prize (1990). In 1948 he participated in 24th Venice Biennale. During the years 1941–44 he was a member of Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov. During 1945–48 he founded The Studio in Tel Aviv with Stematsky. In 1948 Streichman was one of the founders of New Horizon Group. In 1981 he was made an Honorary citizen of Tel Aviv and in 1992 Honorary President of the Association of Artists and sculptors.

He died on January 12, 1993, in Tel Aviv, at the age of 86.

In 2005, Streichman was voted the 194th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis